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Bayern Munich's thrilling 4-3 win over Real Madrid on Wednesday secured their spot in the Champions League semifinals, setting up a meeting with PSG. Harry Kane made another difficult finish look routine, scoring his 50th goal of the season. The game had it all, including controversy, with a post-match scuffle set off by Madrid players enraged by Eduardo Camavinga's dismissal. PSG's leading man, Ousmane Dembélé, may be finding form at the right time, reflecting a team that has finally achieved their goal of becoming European champions and having a Ballon D'Or winner at his peak. PSG eventually picked off Liverpool thanks to two late Dembélé goals, advancing to the semifinals. A summer of change in the elite coaching ranks approaches, with vacancies likely at Real Madrid and several Premier League clubs. Diego Simeone is likely to stay at Atlético Madrid, having completed the job against Barcelona. This is the fourth semi-final for Simeone, three of which have come at Barcelona's expense. Harry Kane deserves a mention for his display of supreme footballing intelligence, combining playmaker and finisher skills. English football misses him, but his time in Germany has made him a yet better player. Looking ahead, another blockbuster will follow when PSG travel to Bayern in the first leg of their semi-final. Vincent Kompany is banned from Bayern's bench after protesting against Madrid's third goal. A second successive semi-final for Arsenal, and a familiar opponent in Simeone's Atléti, promises to be an exciting matchup.

Zimbabwe fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani has been banned from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for two years after he abandoned a pre‑agreed deal with Islamabad United to play for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.The 29‑year‑old was initially signed by Islamabad United despite going unsold in both the IPL and PSL auctions. However, when Kolkata Knight Riders needed a replacement for Mustafizur Rahman – who was released under BCCI instructions – Muzarabani opted to join the IPL side instead.Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials condemned the move, stating that the player “disregarded his obligations in favour of a conflicting arrangement” and violated the contractual principles that underpin professional sport.The IPL and PSL now run almost concurrently, making it practically impossible for an international player to feature in both competitions within the same season.Similar disciplinary action has been taken before: South African bowler Corbin Bosch received a one‑year PSL ban after he chose to play for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, turning down a contract with Peshawar Zalmi.Pakistani cricketers have been absent from the IPL since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, when geopolitical tensions led Indian franchises to stop selecting players from across the western border.Recent concerns about Indian‑owned teams in other leagues, such as England’s The Hundred, have also surfaced. Those worries were eased when Pakistani pacer Abrar Ahmed was signed by the Indian‑owned Sunrisers Leeds, though the move sparked a social‑media backlash and drew criticism from former India star Sunil Gavaskar, who claimed the signing “indirectly contributes to the deaths of Indian soldiers and civilians”.

Egypt and Al-Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy has been banned for four games and fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($942) for assaulting a referee during a recent match.The incident occurred after Al-Ahly's appeal for a penalty was denied in a 1-1 draw with Ceramica Cleopatra. El-Shenawy, who was on the bench, was incensed and struck the referee on the head.The Egyptian Pro League announced the ban, which will sideline El-Shenawy until the final week of the league playoffs. This is significant as El-Shenawy is expected to be Egypt's starting goalkeeper at the upcoming World Cup in North America.Al-Ahly currently sits third in the league with 41 points, five points behind leaders Zamalek.

Crispin Odey, the former hedge fund manager, has dropped his £79m libel claim against the Financial Times over its reporting of sexual misconduct allegations against him, his lawyers have said.In 2023, the FT published several articles from 20 women alleging sexual assault and harassment against Odey, covering a period of five decades. He has previously denied the allegations against him.On Friday, lawyers for the former hedge fund tycoon, 67, said he had been “forced to accept” that the newspaper was “likely to succeed in establishing” its public interest defence.Odey’s decision to drop his claim follows a three-week hearing in which he challenged a decision by the Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator, to ban him from the financial services industry.The FT’s editor, Roula Khalaf, said: “This is a vindication for investigative journalism and for the victims whose stories of abuse we reported. The FT was always confident in its reporting. This is a case that should have never been brought.”In March 2025, Odey was provisionally banned from working in financial services and fined £1.8m by the UK regulator for a “lack of integrity”. The FCA said at the time that Odey had attempted to “frustrate” a disciplinary process into sexual harassment allegations against him, and his conduct proved he was “not a fit and proper person to perform any function”.

Prominent Kashmiri separatist Aasiya Andrabi has been handed down three life sentences by an Indian court, a move that has been widely condemned by activists and legal experts. Andrabi, the founder of the banned all-women's organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), was sentenced on March 24 by a special National Investigative Agency (NIA) court in New Delhi.Andrabi, 64, and her two associates, Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, were arrested by the NIA in 2018 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), a draconian anti-terror law. The UAPA was introduced in 2008 and amended in 2019 to allow authorities to declare individuals as 'terrorists'. Andrabi was accused of waging war against the Indian government, raising funds for terrorist acts, and being a member of a terrorist group.However, the court found no evidence related to these charges, yet convicted her on less serious allegations such as provoking hostility between communities and undermining national integration. The court noted that while Andrabi's actions did not directly cause violence, they could evoke sentiments that may lead to violence.Legal experts say Andrabi's conviction is mainly based on offensive speech-making, raising questions about India's tolerance of dissenting voices. 'Ideology is not punishable by law; only actions are,' a Kashmir-based legal researcher said. 'But the UAPA's scope has been widened significantly through several amendments.'Andrabi's son described the conviction as 'effectively a death sentence' given her age and time already spent in jail. Her husband, a former rebel leader, has also been imprisoned since 1992. Critics argue that the conviction fits a broader pattern in which all forms of political resistance are disciplined in Kashmir.

Tom Watson, an eight-time major winner, has blasted the PGA Tour over its recent decision to allow Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed to return from LIV Golf. Moments after participating in the honorary first drive ceremony at the 2026 Masters, Watson lambasted the tour's decision.Watson expressed his discontent, saying that by reinstating Reed and Koepka, the tour had reneged on promises made to players who remained loyal during the schism. 'I thought the LIV players, when they left, were supposed to be banned for life,' he stated.Watson suggested that if he were the commissioner, Koepka, Reed, and other returning players would have to qualify through the Korn Ferry Tour. 'If I was the commissioner, that's what I'd do,' he said.Watson also emphasized that the players who left for LIV Golf violated the No. 1 rule of protecting sponsors. 'When the players left, they chose to go for the money, which is fine, but to return to the Tour, I thought was a nonstarter, but apparently it's not.'In response, Reed stated that returning to the PGA Tour was the right decision for his game and family. 'I've always known that the best players in the world and the deepest fields from top to bottom are on the PGA Tour,' he said.

The Wireless music festival, scheduled to take place in July, has been cancelled after Kanye West, now known as Ye, was banned from entering the UK. The decision to ban Ye was made by the Home Office, citing that his presence in the UK would not be conducive to the public good.Ye had made an application to travel to the UK via an Electronic Travel Authorisation, which was initially granted online but later rescinded by Home Office ministers. The rapper has been criticized for making antisemitic remarks, including voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler and releasing a song called Heil Hitler.The festival's organizers had booked Ye to perform, but with only three months' notice, finding a replacement proved to be complex. Many artists would have had their summer schedule sorted months ago, making it difficult to fill the slot. The organizers stated that they were not giving Ye a platform to extol his opinions, but rather to perform songs that are currently popular.The decision to ban Ye has been welcomed by some, including Phil Rosenberg, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who said that music festivals should be places where all communities feel welcome, not venues that platform individuals with records of profiteering from antisemitism and other repulsive views.Ye joins a list of American cultural figures who have been banned from entering the UK, including Snoop Dogg, who was denied entry in 2007, and Tyler, the Creator, who was banned for four years in 2015.

Elvira Notari—Italy’s first and most prolific female filmmaker—crafted a vivid portrait of early‑20th‑century Naples through melodramas such as È piccerella (1922). The film opens with bustling pilgrimage scenes at the Candelora festival, juxtaposing flamboyant revelry with stark images of poverty, a visual strategy that challenged the sanitized narratives favored by the fascist regime.According to film scholar Giuliana Bruno, Notari’s work was driven by a desire to document reality, exposing class tensions and gendered oppression that Mussolini’s censors deemed unacceptable. A 1928 censorship law explicitly banned Neapolitan films featuring “stallholders, beggars, urchins, dirty alleyways,” effectively silencing Notari’s authentic street‑level storytelling.Despite directing around 60 feature films—many hand‑coloured—alongside her husband Nicola at Dora Film, only three titles (A Santanotte, È piccerella, Fantasia ‘e surdato) and fragments survive today, a loss directly attributable to fascist suppression and the prohibitive cost of sound‑film conversion.The newly released documentary Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence, produced by Antonella Di Nocera and directed by Valerio Ciriaci, reconstructs Notari’s fragmented career by collaborating with contemporary “artisans”—photographers, visual artists, novelists, and musicians who reinterpret her silent‑film aesthetics. Ciriaci notes that the absence of personal archives made the film’s investigative approach essential, turning Notari’s silence into a creative catalyst.Critics emphasize Notari’s lasting influence on Italian‑American auteurs such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Elements of her chaotic street festivals anticipate the wedding scenes in *The Godfather* and *Goodfellas*, while her raw urban tableaux echo the gritty New York sequences of *Taxi Driver*.Beyond cinematic technique, scholars like Cristina Jandelli argue that Notari’s intertitles reveal a pronounced class consciousness and a critique of women’s marginalisation in early 20th‑century Italy. Her use of Neapolitan dialect and unvarnished depictions of squalor directly opposed the regime’s propaganda‑driven vision of a unified, pristine Italy.After Dora Film collapsed in 1930, Notari retired to Cava de’ Tirreni and died in 1946, largely forgotten until recent scholarly revival. The documentary positions her as a “symbol of the right to memories,” underscoring the ongoing relevance of silenced female voices in cultural history.*Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence* will premiere at New York’s Film Forum on 6 April 2026 and tour the United Kingdom throughout April and May, offering audiences a chance to reconnect with a pioneering filmmaker whose work was once erased by fascism.

British law enforcement detained seven individuals on suspicion of backing the outlawed Palestine Action movement during a peace encampment situated just outside the RAF Lakenheath airbase in eastern England, a facility regularly used by United States forces. The group, comprising five men and two women, joined other activists on Sunday to denounce the base’s alleged role as a launch point for U.S. aircraft participating in the ongoing US‑Israeli war against Iran. The protest was organized by the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace, which reported that those arrested were wearing apparel emblazoned with the slogan: “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action.” Police statements indicated the arrests were made “on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation,” referencing the Labour government’s decision last year to label Palestine Action a “terrorist” organisation, thereby criminalising any affiliation. Although a February court ruling deemed the ban “disproportionate” and an infringement on free‑speech rights, the government has appealed the decision, leaving the prohibition in force for the time being. According to the protest network Defend Our Juries, the crackdown on Palestine Action supporters has already resulted in **more than 2,700 arrests** and hundreds of charges, underscoring the scale of the UK’s enforcement campaign. Police emphasized their duty to apply the law “as it currently stands, not as it might be in the future,” while noting that two additional demonstrators were taken into custody on Saturday for allegedly obstructing public thoroughfares. In a related diplomatic flashpoint, former US President Donald Trump has publicly rebuked Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what he describes as insufficient backing of the US‑Israel war on Iran, straining the historically close UK‑US alliance. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has granted the United States permission to employ British bases for “defensive” operations aimed at Iran and to safeguard the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly 20 % of global oil supplies transit during peacetime.